Show Rating:

You have to admire the packaging, even if the content is distinctly variable.

Dave Marks and Kris Dyer are natural, warm and likeable performers - but they have lumbered themselves with one of the patchiest collections of sketches around.

Proceedings get off to a flying start, with an ill-advised high-energy song-and-dance number that leaves them dripping with sweat for the rest of the show - but it's a lively opener which augers well for the hour ahead.

But unfortunately things go mostly downhill from there, with a mix of poor-quality gags, weak attempts at surrealism and generally ill-conceived larking about.

Still, the lads do have a very nice manner when they are apologising for the standard of their material, and the easy double-act banter between sketches is spot-on.

A couple of skits are entertaining, too - a viciously sweary vicar, the double-speak behind office flirting and the silly puppetry of the Cherry People are all strong. But the other three-quarters of the show lag a long way behind.

Most frustrating is a creepy version of The Price Is Right, bringing new levels of banality to audience participation, and bogged down with a half-hearted attempt at zaniness.

Even if the material is sometimes dismal, this pair always get the best out of it, bringing an affable charm to everything they touch.

And their best work suggests they are capable of some classy comedy - if nowhere near an hour's worth. If they can be ruthless with the slack, there's enough to suggest they could have a decent show in them somewhere.